Chapter 37 Candidates for the Commander of the Royal Guards
The study in Qianqing Palace is much more comfortable than that in the palace. The furnishings and appliances here are not comparable to those in the palace. There are many eunuchs and maids on standby at the door and outside of the study.
The eunuchs brought to the palace and Zhang Zuo did not make any arrangements. The female envoys brought here were divided into two groups, one group went to Renshou Palace and the other stayed in Qianqing Palace.
The maids who stayed in Qianqing Palace were headed by Zhu Qingping. She was raised by the Jiang family as a daughter and had been growing up in the palace. Although she is only twenty-six years old now, she is very calm and collected.
After coming in with snacks and hot milk, she found that the atmosphere in the Xinan Pavilion was not right.
Quietly putting these on the small table next to the desk, Zhu Qingping looked at Zhang Zuo and Huang Jin before retreating.
Now, when Zhang Yong heard the emperor's question, he immediately kowtowed and said: "Gu Dayong has told the slaves that they will die, and they should never use the grace given by Long Live Lord to respect their status."
"I don't blame you. The fact is that with your cooperation, it would be easier for me to accept some things." Zhu Houcong was pragmatic, "It's just that you think that I am too young and ignorant."
"My slaves acknowledge my guilt!" The three eunuchs kowtowed and admitted their guilt one by one.
Gu Dayong has gone through the stage where Zhu Houcong rewarded him with gifts. How could he underestimate him?
But even if you want to show your loyalty, you can only show the most important bargaining chip in your hand when summoned - even though this bargaining chip belongs to the emperor.
Gu Dayong, the great eunuch who had been in the Zhengde Dynasty for sixteen years, held the title of "eunuch in charge", which was superior to that of the eunuch in charge of the ceremonial eunuch. When he was summoned to Prince Xing's Mansion, he said this: "Your Majesty, I am here to meet you privately. Because whether you see it or not, the courtiers' slaves cannot escape. The slaves are not afraid of death in the future, but they are afraid that they will not be loyal to your majesty, and your majesty will not know the situation, and will be manipulated by the courtiers in the future!"
Doesn’t that mean you have made your miserable situation clear?
Now Zhu Houcong looked at the three people kneeling on the ground and nodded: "Get up first. Gu Dayong said that his position as the eunuch in charge was not in compliance with the old system, and he was guilty of meeting in private. He would not die a good death no matter what. He asked me to protect him You two, what are you saying that if all three of you leave, my will will definitely not be able to leave the Forbidden City. You were very courageous at that time, but now tell me in detail, how can my will not be able to leave the Forbidden City?"
Gu Dayong could only kneel down again: "It's my fault that I'm too worried. His Majesty is like a saint coming to the world, and all the courtiers worship him. The slaves are just thinking ahead for their master, and are afraid that the ministers will destroy the capital camp that the late emperor finally saved." The military power was taken away again."
Zhang Yong also hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, on the night of the late emperor's grand visit, the slaves later discussed privately. The elders recommended the slave to be the governor of the nine gates of the capital. It was really hard to play hard! The slave is also in charge of the Royal Horse Supervisor and the commander of the Tengxiang Four Guards Warrior Camp. .With such a high and powerful position, if you go back and impeach on any crime, you can add the foundation of treason..."
"How dare you slaves to take advantage of your kindness?" Gu Dayong praised anxiously, "In the sixteenth year of the late emperor's reign, the 12th Regiment Camp was renamed the East and West Official Hall. He worked hard to achieve the current situation. Now the training camp of the Mighty Regiment has been disbanded, Zhang Zhong and the others are also in jail. Your Majesty, the civil servants have been trying to regain control of the capital since the Tianshun period after the Seizing of the Gate incident."
This is what Gu Dayong relied on to meet in private that day: the military power of the capital!
In their words, the civil servants represented by Yang Tinghe were aggressive.
Among the many powerful powers now, including financial power and personnel power, on the one hand, courtiers can interfere with the emperor's decisions through "voting," "admonition," and "refutation," and on the other hand, they can also prevent many decisions from being implemented through execution.
Gu Dayong wanted to represent Zhang Yong and others, and use private interviews to convince Zhu Houcong that they were loyal ministers, so that they could successfully receive one of the important legacies left by Zhu Houzhao: part of the military power.
Logically speaking, the imperial power is supreme, and military power naturally belongs to the emperor.
But what about the specific exercise? The restrictions on money and food, the decentralization of many powers, such as commanding and deploying troops and supervising troops, will greatly reduce this power.
It can only be said that civil servants already have a very large say.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army, what does it mean in front of the Ministry of War?
Because Zhu Houzhao tried every means to actually control part of the military power that could be effectively mobilized, Yang Ting and others had to temporarily rely on Zhang Yong to stabilize the situation in the capital.
But at the same time, Yang Ting and others were also moving as quickly as possible, trying to tame the part of the military power that Zhu Houzhao once had into the hands of civil servants again.
The signs were already obvious, first Jiang Bin, then Wei Bin and others sent the secret message to Gu Da through the Jin Yiwei, even Zhang Zhong, the imperial horse supervisor in charge of the military talisman, was captured.
The next target is undoubtedly the three "remnants" of the Eight Tigers.
So Gu Dayong had to go to see Zhu Houcong privately, hoping to find a way out.
At this point in the evolution of military power in the Ming Dynasty, the Governor's Office of the Five Armies has declined, and the Ministry of War has greater power.
The border army and other guards used civil servants to control the military, and used internal supervision to supervise external affairs. They were dominated by civil servants and restrained each other.
The armed forces directly under the emperor's control were mainly the pro-army plus the Beijing camp.
The pro-army mainly defends the imperial city and the palace city. They will not leave the capital unless the sky falls - except for the most famous among the guards, the Jinyi Guards.
The leaders of the East Factory are the eunuchs, but the heads, foremen, stalls, and servants who handle specific tasks are also selected from the Jinyi Guards.
The backbone of the Yiwei Department of each feudal prince's palace was selected from the Jinyiwei.
There are many, many places where Jin Yiwei walks in every corner of the empire.
Civil servants did not dare to get involved with the pro-army forces, but the three major battalions that appeared since the Yongle Dynasty: the Five Military Camps, the Three Thousand Camps, and the Shenji Camp, were always on their minds.
At the beginning, it was just that the world was at peace and the military officials wanted to be suppressed, but that changed later.
The source of the transfer of control of Jingying was the Tumu Fort Incident.
The three major battalions and a large number of honorable ministers and generals were wiped out. Since then, the Beijing camp has continued to change: the Tenth Regiment Camp, the Twelfth Regiment Camp, the East and West Official Halls...
After the battle to defend the capital, the civil servants gained control of the capital camp for the first time.
After the incident of seizing the gate, the capital camp returned to the hands of military generals and eunuchs, and was controlled by the emperor.
In the subsequent Tianshun and Chenghua dynasties, civil servants were unable to get involved in the capital camp again.
But after Emperor Xiaozong succeeded to the throne, things changed again, and the admiral of the Beijing camp became a civilian official.
Zhu Houzhao first controlled the key points such as Jinyiwei and Dongchang through the eunuchs and military generals in the Leopard Room, and then built the Zhenguo Palace in Xuanfu. However, he had to wait until the self-proclaimed "General Zhu Shou" defeated Mongolia after knocking off the pass.
Only then did we have the first border army that we could control.
As for the Beijing camp, this force was gradually penetrated mainly through the establishment and training of the east and west official offices, allowing the internal ministers to supervise the army and even the admirals.
King Ning's rebellion gave Zhu Houzhao the opportunity to directly intervene and take over the troops of the Beijing camp - again in the name of General Zhu Shou.
Zhu Houzhao's sixteen years in office originally left two additional military power legacies: the re-control of the Beijing camp, and the establishment of a powerful regiment training camp newly selected and trained by the "Four Outer Schools".
The former is still there, but the mighty regiment training camp has been disbanded by Yang Ting and them - in the name of ensuring the safety of the succession of the throne, in the form of the Queen Mother's decree.
After Qian Ning was imprisoned, the pro-military system still had no general who could control the situation.
After thinking about this, Zhu Houcong asked: "So the position of commander of Jinyi's army has been vacant now?"
"Your Majesty clearly knows that it has always been empty. Now the servants are in charge of the work." Zhang Yong lowered his head and answered.
Gu Dayong also said: "Your Majesty, no one can arbitrarily decide this position, only Your Majesty the Holy One! I followed Your Majesty all the way back to the capital from Anlu. Among the former officials in the residence, only Luo Qianhu had the highest rank. Although Lu Dianzhan was more senior,
He has the trust of Your Majesty, but he is only a sixth-grade official..."
"Luo An?"
"Exactly. Luo Qianhu is nearly forty years old and in the prime of life. Last year, he took over the post of Zheng Qianhu, the fifth-rank Zheng Qianhu. His father was already the fourth-rank Jinyiwei commanding officer. Now he is specially promoted because of the merits of Conglong.
Since Luo An is a third-grade commander, he can temporarily assume the post of commander."
Zhu Houcong looked at him: "You were not idle along the way."